There are a million stories in the capital city, and not one involving rats and moving day has a happy ending.

Or didn’t, until one night last week, when a cop on a beat came up against a couple of rats at Gilman and Henry streets in Madison. A concerned citizen snitched, and Officer Timothy Smith was dispatched to the intersection. “Check area. See the rat …”

Garbage and trash is what he found. It was moving day among the denizens, and two of them didn’t have a place to go, or were just too darn scared. That’s the way life is in the city, when you’re a rat. Word gets out.

In a brief police report, Smith said he and a person accompanying him on his rounds found and captured two pet rats that had been released to the trash-strewn area behind a residence at West Gilman and North Henry streets. Their open cage contained moldy food and an ill-smelling orange blanket.

They didn’t get far. Or didn’t want to. The first rat was described as black and white and fat and was still near the cage, as was its brown friend. Once you’ve tasted the good life in a student apartment — Cheetos, craft brew, wi-fi — it’s hard to acclimate to a garbage-filled back yard.

The cop and the ride-along caught the rats and put them in paper bags and took them to the Dane County Humane Society. Their fate a week later is unknown. Some rats never come out of there. Spokeswoman Gayle Viney said the two rats are still there, in protective custody. Beyond that, not a squeak.

There are a million stories in the capital city, and not one involving rats and moving day has a happy ending.

Or didn’t, until one night last week, when a cop on a beat came up against a couple of rats at Gilman and Henry streets in Madison. A concerned citizen snitched, and Officer Timothy Smith was dispatched to the intersection. “Check area. See the rat …”

Garbage and trash is what he found. It was moving day among the denizens, and two of them didn’t have a place to go, or were just too darn scared. That’s the way life is in the city, when you’re a rat. Word gets out.

In a brief police report, Smith said he and a person accompanying him on his rounds found and captured two pet rats that had been released to the trash-strewn area behind a residence at West Gilman and North Henry streets. Their open cage contained moldy food and an ill-smelling orange blanket.

They didn’t get far. Or didn’t want to. The first rat was described as black and white and fat and was still near the cage, as was its brown friend. Once you’ve tasted the good life in a student apartment — Cheetos, craft brew, wi-fi — it’s hard to acclimate to a garbage-filled back yard.

The cop and the ride-along caught the rats and put them in paper bags and took them to the Dane County Humane Society. Their fate a week later is unknown. Some rats never come out of there. Spokeswoman Gayle Viney said the two rats are still there, in protective custody. Beyond that, not a squeak.